My friend's company is blocking Gmail access. I directed her to the Tor browser bundle. She was able to login to her Gmail account successfully (via https://www.gmail.com/ URL). However, the Google Hangouts widget disappears after a couple of seconds.

I was able to reproduce the issue here in the U.S. with the Tor browser. Tried the following without success:

hi, FYI: though Tor is safe, the stream is visible in a network capture (the contents, destination etc. aren't decipherable though). If she has signed any sort of agreement or, a company policy warning is always shown when starting the PC/browser etc., Tor usage could be dangerous. Also, hypothetically, the company could capture the undecipherable stream and later potentially use it for any data loss issue etc. though she was just chatting.
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vWilFeb 15 '14 at 15:45